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"The program expanded to include cell phones in 2008. That change has rapidly increased the cost to the federal government—$1.6 billion in 2011, up from $772 million in 2008. The number of Lifeline beneficiaries rose from 7.1 million to 12.5 million during the same period; cell phones account for roughly half of that 12.5 million."

The "universal service fee" was sold as a bill of good to the American public for the purpose of bringing out of the way rural areas phone service. It looks like it was expanded in the Bush era (not sure if by GW himself of congress, with GW signing it obviously) to include subsidizing landline service for low income households.

Another perfect example of how once an entitlement gets put in place it grows out of control and becomes impossible to get rid of.

Crap like this upsets me. I realize there is a need for some sorts of public assistance, but at what point is the line crossed from a helping hand to a handout? My wife works for the local school system as a secretary and makes about $20k/year + insurance benefits. The benefits are the ONLY reason she keeps this job as they are worth an additional 20k or so per year. Plus it gives her most of the summer off. She works hard for what she makes.

Only reason I mention her job is that she sees all the people that come in that are on some sort of assistance. IIRC, nearly 40% + of the students in our school system are receiving free/reduced lunches. And since they qualify for that, they also get their school fees waived. Most of these people also fall below the income line and pay little to any local school taxes and/or income taxes. I will also note that MANY of them are unwed. Even in cases where the father or a live in boyfriend is in the picture. They also continue to have kids!

Further, it angers me to no end watching someone throw down their WIC voucher and then pull out a wad of cash to buy their 3-4 packs of cigarettes.

Stuff like this makes me rage. My wife and I work out butts off to have what we have and so many people simply don't. I'm honestly so fed up with it that I have actually considered divorcing my wife so that she can qualify for all the free crap. The system is broken.

You think that's bad. A friend of mine was renting his house out to HUD in a semi large city. According to his neighbor to said house and good friend, the people that moved in is a women, unmarried, 5 kids, driving a 6 series BMW and her boyfriend that lives there as well which is also her babies daddy and works for some big corp is running around in a '11 Escalade.

They pay $120 a month of the $2000+ rent he receives from the city. Talk about F'ed up. The moment he found out he talked to the city but the city didnt give a crap.

People do this all the time around here. The bad part is the kids see this and the parrents show them how its done, basically enabling their children and the cycle continues but is multiplied by how many kids she pushes out. It's only going to get worse as time passes and our economy is going to be crushed due to it. In Baltimore, it's a way of life and is encouraged by the parasite parents around here.

Since when did phone service become a right? If the aim is provide access to emergecy services to those without phones why not give them phone that can only dial emergency numbers?

Originally Posted by BigEvil

idot

"The program expanded to include cell phones in 2008. That change has rapidly increased the cost to the federal government—$1.6 billion in 2011, up from $772 million in 2008. The number of Lifeline beneficiaries rose from 7.1 million to 12.5 million during the same period; cell phones account for roughly half of that 12.5 million."

The "universal service fee" was sold as a bill of good to the American public for the purpose of bringing out of the way rural areas phone service. It looks like it was expanded in the Bush era (not sure if by GW himself of congress, with GW signing it obviously) to include subsidizing landline service for low income households.

Another perfect example of how once an entitlement gets put in place it grows out of control and becomes impossible to get rid of.

Originally Posted by BigEvil

Because that isn't good enough to buy a vote with.

Originally Posted by knownothingmags

Originally Posted by OPBN

Crap like this upsets me. I realize there is a need for some sorts of public assistance, but at what point is the line crossed from a helping hand to a handout? My wife works for the local school system as a secretary and makes about $20k/year + insurance benefits. The benefits are the ONLY reason she keeps this job as they are worth an additional 20k or so per year. Plus it gives her most of the summer off. She works hard for what she makes.

Only reason I mention her job is that she sees all the people that come in that are on some sort of assistance. IIRC, nearly 40% + of the students in our school system are receiving free/reduced lunches. And since they qualify for that, they also get their school fees waived. Most of these people also fall below the income line and pay little to any local school taxes and/or income taxes. I will also note that MANY of them are unwed. Even in cases where the father or a live in boyfriend is in the picture. They also continue to have kids!

Further, it angers me to no end watching someone throw down their WIC voucher and then pull out a wad of cash to buy their 3-4 packs of cigarettes.

I could go on for days about this. The system is soooo broken.

Originally Posted by Ando

You think that's bad. A friend of mine was renting his house out to HUD in a semi large city. According to his neighbor to said house and good friend, the people that moved in is a women, unmarried, 5 kids, driving a 6 series BMW and her boyfriend that lives there as well which is also her babies daddy and works for some big corp is running around in a '11 Escalade.

They pay $120 a month of the $2000+ rent he receives from the city. Talk about F'ed up. The moment he found out he talked to the city but the city didnt give a crap.

People do this all the time around here. The bad part is the kids see this and the parrents show them how its done, basically enabling their children and the cycle continues but is multiplied by how many kids she pushes out. It's only going to get worse as time passes and our economy is going to be crushed due to it. In Baltimore, it's a way of life and is encouraged by the parasite parents around here.

facts > AO OT

obamaphone.net has been a scam website from the beginning. hundreds of sources have confirmed this. i mean c'mon guys, its OBAMAPHONE.NET .... should have been your first hint its made up. lets at least think for a second before we go off the handle.

obamaphone.net has been a scam website from the beginning. hundreds of sources have confirmed this. i mean c'mon guys, its OBAMAPHONE.NET .... should have been your first hint its made up. lets at least think for a second before we go off the handle.

judging from this thread, it looks like a day to show how uninformed half the population is because of there rumor mill conservative media.

Thats they key to reasonable political discourse.

Anyone who does not agree with me is uniformed, uneducated, or just plain stupid...

Rather than putting together a logical argument complete with facts and premises, or poltely pointing out flaws in others premises we will just use sound bites and insults to prove our superior position

Anyone who does not agree with me is uniformed, uneducated, or just plain stupid...

Rather than putting together a logical argument complete with facts and premises, or poltely pointing out flaws in others premises we will just use sound bites and insults to prove our superior position

you can take whatever political stance you want to, but obamaphone, as the conservative media has painted it, is simply factually incorrect. I have not stated an opinion in this thread politically, so you cannot agree or disagree with my politics. i have only posted the debunking of OPs claims. because, they are simply false.

you can take whatever political stance you want to, but obamaphone, as the conservative media has painted it, is simply factually incorrect. I have not stated an opinion in this thread politically, so you cannot agree or disagree with my politics. i have only posted the debunking of OPs claims. because, they are simply false.